Taking a stand against past wrongs

One of the hardest things in this world is to admit you are wrong. And nothing is more helpful in resolving a situation than its frank admission. – Benjamin Disraeli

CLOSURE was a prominent word and theme on the Prime Time Programme last week. It began with the news that the United Nations Human Rights Commission has published a report into the Magdalene Laundries and the abuse of young Irish women there. The second part was about “The Disappeared”, those people who were murdered during the Troubles in the North. In a number of cases, their bodies have not been found, leaving their families with decades of torment.
Bishop Michael Smith of Meath stated publicly on the programme that the “leaders” of paramilitary organisations should put pressure on their members to come forward with information. The horrendous hypocrisy in this statement is difficult to swallow given the fact that the Catholic Church and the religious orders have been so negative in their approach to enquiries into the physical, psychological and sexual abuse of children in Magdalene Laundries and various other institutions over the years. I do not wish for a moment to suggest that the bishop himself does not believe that the leaders of those murderous gangs who terrorised the North should not reveal the locations of the bodies. I am simply stating that the Catholic Church, nor any of its representatives, carry any moral authority. The institution is tainted and has long ago forfeited the right to pass judgement on anybody.
The argument that good people should not be tarred with the same brush as the perpetrators of savage physical sexual, psychological and physical abuse against children is fatally weakened by the fact that anyone who answers to Rome is failing to acknowledge that the institution is itself is corrupt and utterly devoid of moral authority. Perhaps the argument can be made that those who still adhere to the authority of Rome are themselves institutionalised, damaged and blinded by indoctrination. If this is the case then it is a tragedy too but let us have an end to such people addressing the country from a position of supposed moral authority.
The clerics of every religion are of course free at any time to address their flock in their place of worship and tell them whatever they wish to in terms of moral discipline. If the flock wish to accept this at face value and internalise the message then so be it. It is another thing entirely for the State broadcaster to be calling on religious spokespeople to preach over the airwaves on a regular basis on matters of morality. The incongruity of the situation bears little scrutiny before revealing itself as utter farce.
The true extent of what went on in Catholic run, State-sanctioned, institutions will be nothing more than terrible imaginings for those of us who were not there. It is perhaps easy to forget from this position that there was, and perhaps still is on the part of the Roman Catholic Church, systematic, institutional abuse of children and vulnerable people. This was hidden, and as a result perpetuated, by those in the upper echelons of the organisation. To this day, the entity that is the Church continues to fob off and refuse to co-operate with those who wish to reveal the truth.
This vile institution is not alone in its culpability, however. Complicit in the incarceration and mass abuse of children were a number of other actors. These were the State and the society at large. The institutions were State-sanctioned and the general public willingly turned a blind eye. I am not yet an old man and yet I am young enough to remember the consciousness of industrial schools and similar institutions. I can hear clear as day the pitying tone in the voices of those who discussed the fate of the fallen. The incidence that speaks to me from memory was not the tale of a girl who “fell pregnant” but the story of a girl who was orphaned. She is not alone in my memory.
It is at least partially the failure of Irish politicians to address this hideous scar on our collective past. To do so fully and truthfully might reveal a truth which nobody wishes to confront.
The bodies of Northern Irish people who were senselessly murdered by killing squads deranged with ideological zeal lie hidden in Irish bogs. The real history of institutional abuse in Ireland lies far closer to the surface. In the case of the North, the perpetrators claim to have forgotten the locations. In the case of the latter, the collective consciousness has chosen to forget. Soon the victims will be dead and their cries for recognition and succour will be silenced allowing for a quiet return to the status quo. 
Ireland owes itself an excoriation and yet is has taken the intervention of an outside observer to identify it. This fact says a great deal about the society’s willingness to accept the truth. The UN Committee Against Torture stated in their report that Ireland should “set up a statutory investigation into allegations of torture and degrading treatment of women committed to Magdalene Laundries”. The committee’s reports are not legally binding but carry “moral authority”. Given the heed paid to institutions with such powers internationally, it is unlikely that we will witness any significant action by Dublin against the Vatican any time soon.
What interested me more was the following line from The Irish Times report. “The committee’s recommendations are not legally binding but carry moral authority, particularly for countries such as Ireland that pride themselves on their record of promoting human rights”. Forgive me for pointing it out, but in terms of refugees, immigrants, Travellers, the disabled, those who care for them, the poor, prisoners or the rendered Ireland has not got a record that anyone would be proud of in terms of human rights. Perhaps the author of the piece should have said their “image of promoting human rights”. Our record, particularly in recent years, does little to flatter us.
Everyone makes mistakes. We must learn from them as the Vatican has not. Where they doff their cap in public while privately continuing to evade scrutiny and conceal evidence, the Irish State must step up to the plate and do exactly the opposite. Now is the time for the current Irish Government and people to take a stand against the wrongs of the past and confront them. In doing so, we can record them to history so that a new record of respecting human rights we can all be proud of might be written.